Malay Boundaries Reconsidered: Perspectives of Indian Muslim Citizens on the Borderline

Abstract

The concept of Malay in Malaysia is said to have lost its inherent fluidity in the process of modernization and transformed into a fixed ethnic category. However, the outer boundaries are still not clear, as evidenced by the cultural definition of Malay in the Constitution. This paper examines the evolution of the Malay concept and its background, focusing on the Indian Muslim citizens who have been oscillating across the Malay/Indian ethnic boundaries. Before the colonial period, when Malay was an inclusive concept with kingship and Islam at its core, they could be included in this category. However, when the penetration of colonial administration gradually fixed the concept of Malay, and when the debate over “Who is a Malay?” began along with nationalism, they were excluded from the Malay category because of their exoticism. Nevertheless, when postwar political changes shifted Malay nationalism toward “the establishment of Malay superiority,” they were once again included in the Malay category as they supported this position. Their current situation, which still wavers on the borderline between the Malay and Indian, reveals that the outer boundaries of Malay for those on the borderline are still ambiguously fixed, since the process of fixation of Malay boundaries has always proceeded with the differentiation of the immigrant groups, Chinese and Indian.